FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops and Shortages 06/02 - IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF (23 June)

IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF (23 June)

In late April 2002, a series of minor earthquakes in western areas resulted in casualties and damage to property. Some 20 000 people, mostly farmers in the grain and fruit producing area of Songhor, were affected. Furthermore, on 22 June 2002, an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter Scale and followed by several aftershocks struck Qazvin, Hamadan and Zanjan provinces, destroying or damaging more than 80 villages, causing over 200 deaths and injuring more than 1 000 people. So far, assistance is being provided by national relief organizations.

Main current agricultural activities include harvesting of wheat and planting of the paddy crop due for harvest from August. The 2002 wheat crop, which benefited from improved weather conditions since January, is expected to recover substantially from last year’s drought-affected crop and is provisionally estimated at 9.5 million tonnes. This is some 2 million tonnes more than in 2001. Prospects for the paddy crop will crucially depend on more rains to replenish the water reservoirs which have been seriously depleted by recurrent droughts.

The improved production will result in a marked drop in cereal import requirement for 2002/03 from an average of 9.9 million tonnes over the three previous years.